Need a reason to dress up? Come and meet the poets and artists of this year’s poster series! Along with friends, family and other supporters of public art, please enjoy with us a light reception of hors d’oeuvres, drink and music!

To add to the merriment, sit and listen as our featured poster poets read their haiku.

And, of course, our wonderful new posters will be displayed along the glass walls of the Atrium!

Prints of the new posters, as well as other items from Syracuse Poster Project, will be on sale during the event. (Click here to view our online Shop.)

These featured poets can thank a combination of skill and luck for rising to the top, given the large number of participants again this year. A striking total of 125 poets submitted 260 fresh haiku. We added these to 717 active haiku from past entries, then selected one haiku from each poet to pass along for consideration by the student artists. Bottom line: as a group, Syracuse University artists had a total of 414 haiku to consider!

Our student artists created 24 posters, from which 16 were selected. The selection committee consisted of Laurie Reed and Bethany Holbrook, of the Downtown Committee; Professors John Thompson and Marty Blake, of the Syracuse University Illustration Program; and Jason Evans and Jim Emmons, board members of the Syracuse Poster Project.

We hope you’ll be able to join us and we look forward to seeing you on Friday evening! But, if you should happen to miss the evening’s festivities,be sure to look for this year’s posters in the kiosks dotting downtown Syracuse. They’re expected to be on view by May 1.